To Win A Line 7 Squadron Jacket
Current Event
2 - 7 September
St Moritz, Switzerland
2008 World Championship Standings
Watch the Tour shows at Sail.TV
Search
Search the World Match Racing Tour website:
|
| HOLMBERG CAPTURES 2nd ANNUAL MONSOON CUP |
Mathieu Richard (left) and Peter Holmberg put on an entertaining final for the 2nd Monsoon Cup, won by Holmberg, 3-2. (World Tour/Guido Cantini)
|
Flight 3, Scene 2: Peter Holmberg crash jibes to starboard to avoid holing Mathieu Richard. (World Tour/Guido Cantini)
|
Peter Gilmour (right) luffs Ian Williams into near oblivion in Flight 2 of their Petite Final match, won by Williams, 2-1. (World Tour/Guido Cantini)
|
KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia (Dec. 3, 2006) — In one year the Monsoon Cup will conclude the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour schedule. But it’ll be hard-pressed to deliver a more exciting final than today’s series between Peter Holmberg and Mathieu Richard.
Holmberg (ISV), the 46-year-old helmsman candidate for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, defeated Richard, the 30-year-old French surgical match-racer, 3-2 to win the 2nd annual Monsoon Cup.
The series was a sea-saw affair, with each crew landing and absorbing repeated blows. Holmberg, however, pulled out the championship despite being on the verge of elimination just 36 hours earlier.
“The team has to do it, not just me,” said Holmberg, who captured his fifth career victory on the World Tour. “It’s really shifty and tricky here. The team that figures it out, that’s what gets them on the right track.”
Holmberg’s Alinghi crew included Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza, Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen and Dean Phipps. They finished with a 14-9 record and won MYR250,000 (approx. $69,500) of the MYR 1 million (approx. $278,000) prize purse.
“Dean and I got in synch and started reading the pressure better,” Holmberg said. “The crew, I had Rodney on main, Piet on bow, Lorenzo trimming … you couldn’t find a better workhorse than that trio.”
Richard sailed with regulars Thierry Briend, Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant and Yannick Simon. The Saba Sailing Team finished with a 14-10 record and won MYR150,000 (approx. $41,700).
“It was very exciting and very close,” said Richard. “Maybe I would say we are disappointed because it was so close. But generally speaking, I am very happy with the event. It was a fantastic event. It was a great result for my team and me.”
Holmberg and Richard got to the final by beating Peter Gilmour (AUS), PST, and Ian Williams (GBR), Team Pindar, respectively. Each match was decided by 2-1 scores.
In the Petite Final, Williams solidified his position atop the Match Racing World Championship standings when he defeated Gilmour 2-1. Williams now leads the series with 62 points, 12 points ahead of Richard who leaped into second with his runner-up finish.
Richard opened the final by winning the first race. He started to the right of Holmberg, worked the right side of the beat and rounded the first windward mark with a lead of about 8 seconds. From there he covered for a 1-0 lead.
Holmberg rebounded, however, and took a 2-1 lead. He won the second race by playing the right side of the racecourse. He won the third race by virtue of a penalty on Richard. The Frenchman was penalized on the second beat when he tacked to port to cover Holmberg, who had just taken his transom. The umpires deemed that Richard, now the windward boat, didn’t keep clear.
Still, Richard led to the finish of the race where he tried to pull off his penalty turn. His crew doused the spinnaker, hardened up on port and then tacked to starboard. But as they completed their tack Holmberg charged down on port jibe. Richard didn’t bear away soon enough to complete his turn before Holmberg had to crash jibe, his boom draping all over Richard’s headstay. The umpires penalized Richard again because he had no rights as an exonerating boat, and Holmberg won the race.
Richard evened the series 2-2 in the fourth flight, despite carrying another penalty. This time he was penalized for failing to avoid contact after Holmberg asked for room to tack from an obstruction. Richard told him to tack and when Holmberg did there was contact and the umpires determined Richard failed to keep clear. This time, however, Richard performed his penalty turn around the pin end and got his bow across the finish line a scant 2 seconds ahead of Holmberg.
That set up a final race, winner-take-all showdown in Flight 5. Holmberg started to the right of Richard, and it paid off. Halfway up the beat Holmberg rode starboard tack across Richard by about one boatlength. He rounded the windward mark about 8 seconds in the lead, extended that to about 11 seconds at the leeward mark, and then covered relentlessly for the win.
In retrospect, the right side of the racecourse was a key to the racing.
“If I don’t take that right every time,” Holmberg said, somewhat exasperated. “Every time we gave it up, the guy got ahead of us.”
Holmberg, a noted user of the rules, also felt his experience played a part in the penalties against the younger Richard.
“Age has its virtues. I’ve seen and done a few more than him. He did fall in a few traps I set for him, so I was happy with that,” Holmberg said. “The guys’ good. He’s calm, cool, fast and knows what he’s doing. He’s a nice, clean guy to sail against. I enjoyed it.”
The events of the World Tour serve to determine the ISAF Match Racing World Champion. Next year the Monsoon Cup will be the final event of the 2006-’07 season, and will crown the 2007 World Champion.
The World Tour is sanctioned by ISAF, sailing’s world governing body. The World Tour Partner and Official Car is BMW (Munich, Germany). World Tour sponsors include Sebago (Rockford, Mich.), the Official Footwear Supplier, Travel Places (West Sussex, England), the Official Travel Partner, and Wedgwood (Stoke-on-Trent, England), the Official Trophy Sponsor.
# # #
RELATED CONTENT
2006 Monsoon Cup Photo Gallery
Monsoon Cup Flight Schedule and Results
Monsoon Cup Crew List
Monsoon Cup Results Matrix
Semifinalists Set at Monsoon Cup (Dec. 2, 2006)
Williams Seals Round Robin at Monsoon Cup (Dec. 1, 2006)
Koo Steals Show on Day 1 of Monsoon Cup (Nov. 30, 2006)
Monsoon Cup Set to Begin Thursday (Nov. 29, 2006)
World Tour -- Monsoon Cup Regatta Announcement (Nov. 27, 2006)
Monsoon Cup Lineup Confirmed (Nov. 20, 2006)
Monsoon Cup Set to Become Sailing's Richest Event (Nov. 8, 2006)
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE WORLD TOUR
Sean McNeill
Director of Public Relations
Tel: +60 1925 48795
E-mail: smcneill@f10marketing.com
FOR INFORMATION ABOUT THE MONSOON CUP
Angela Fernandez
Media Manager
Tel: +603 8945 9084
E-mail: angelafernandez@tbest.com.my
MONSOON CUP FINAL STANDINGS
Prize Purse: MYR 1,000,000 (approximately $278,000)
Skipper (Country) Team, Record, Prize Money*
1. Peter Holmberg (ISV) Alinghi, 14-9, MYR250,000 (approx. $69,500)
(Crew: Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza, Dean Phipps, Piet van Nieuwenhuyzen)
2. Mathieu Richard (FRA) Saba Sailing Team, 14-10, MYR150,000 (approx. $41,700)
(Crew: Thierry Briend, Greg Evrard, Olivier Herledant, Yannick Simon)
3. Ian Williams (GBR) Team Pindar, 15-5, MYR100,00 (approx. $27,800)
(Crew: Bill Hardesty, Mark Nicholls, Simon Shaw, Mark Williams)
4. Peter Gilmour (AUS) PST, 11-6, MYR90,000 (approx. $25,000)
(Crew: Rick Brent, Christian Scherrer, Graeme Spence, Yasuhiro Yaji)
5. Jesper Bank (DEN) United Internet Team Germany, 9-6, MYR80,000 (approx. $22,200)
(Crew: Henrik Blaksjaer, Thomas Jacobsen, Mike Mottl, Jan Schoepe)
6. Björn Hansen (SWE) Team Apport.net, 9-7, MYR70,000 (approx. $19,400)
(Crew: Martin Berntsson, Kalle Kjerstadius, Staffan Lindberg, Magnus Woxen)
7. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza, 6-8, MYR60,000 (approx. $16,600)
(Crew: Ian Ainslie, Fernando Colaninno, Pierluigi Fornelli, David Rae)
8. Sébastien Col (FRA) Areva Challenge, 6-8, MYR56,000 (approx. $15,500)
(Crew: Christophe Andre, Benoit Briand, Gilles Favennec, Thierry Peponnet)
9. James Spithill (AUS) Luna Rossa Challenge, 5-6, MYR46,000 (approx. $12,800)
(Crew: Magnus Augustson, Torben Grael, Michele Ivaldi, Joe Newton)
10. Adam Minoprio (NZL) Black Match Racing, 2-9, MYR40,000 (approx. $11,100)
(Crew: Nick Blackman, Tom Powrie, Josh Puckey, Dave Swete)
11. Wearn Haw Tan (SIN) China Team, 2-9 MYR30,000 (approx. $8,300)
(Crew: Thierry Barot, Xavier Husson, Yurii Siegel, Zhang Wenpei)
12. Tiffany Koo (MAL) Team Selangor Gapurna, 1-10, MYR28,000 (approx. $7,700)
(Crew: Rolf Heemskerk, Jeremy Koo, Ong Khong Sing, Looi Sing Yew)
(*1MYR = 0.278296 USD on Dec. 3, 2006)
|
|
|
|
